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Ecology -- Keokuck and Salamanca

Posted January 29, 2008

The unintended consequences of the price of oil charged by the OPEC cartel are amazing. Here in the USA we hastily bought into to Ethanol as a solution, and it was decided that corn was to be the fuel source.

This meant that corn for food (either to feed they hungry with our surplus, or to feed our livestock) was a seconday concern. With the rising prices paid for the crop, the farmers shifted from other grains.

The result? Our office in Spain tells us that the cost of bread in Spain has risen substantially. The same goes for the feed for cheese producing sheep, and ham producing pigs. One notice we received from Iberico producers is that the cost of their feed has risen 45% in the past few months.

It is an amazing world we live in when the decision of a farmer in Keokuck, Iowa directly affects the Iberico herds in Salamanca!